The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-01-20


that ne was not guilty of the crime for
: which he was condemned to die.
told him that if that was so | reioiced
in his innocence, but urged him again
f to think we'll and to say nothing that
he would have to unsay when he stood
, on the sCaffold. | then told him that
had done my duty. | had expound-
: ed to him the nature of confession, and
, impressed upon him SO far as | could
what was his duty in the event of his
: guilt, but that | could not read the Sc
crets of his soul. AS he so firmly as
+ serted his innocence | would treat him
though quite often in my anxiety to be
: faithful | would lead him over the
same ground, but always with the same
result, and this continued to the last.
Reporter: Did you offer to receive
his confession and keep it secret?
DR.. Hatcher: | never did. l told
him that if he had any statements to
make to me which he preferred should
not be made public until the day after
his execution that would keep them.
This did because | had no doubt at
the time that he would be executed,
and was conscientiously anxious to in
vlte and encourage the confession if he
had any to make. That any person
should on this account suspect that |
would have held such a confession as
a secret even when knew that there
were efforts on foot to save him from
death was to me an infinite surprise
That would have made me practical
enemy Of justice. No man shall COM
NIT to me his lawless secrets with the
pledge on my part that l will keep
them. | could not allow this while
holding to the doctrines of Baptists.
THE PRISONERS BEARING.
| Reporter: You were often with Clu-
1 verius. How did he impress you
, Was he secretive and inaccessible2
! DR.. Hatcher: At first / had a pre-
ponderating suspicion of his guilt and
!; watched him as closely as could
y Sometimes | fancied there was crafty
0 far-off, vacant look about him; bu,
e gradually it disappeared. His talk
h with me became free and cordial, and
e in my later interviews he was open
S simple, and natural.
d Reporter: They say he was stoliC
d and unfeeling. Is that SOP
DR.. Hatcher: 1t was not so. HI
was not noisy or efervescent, but h
was notably responsive to outward in
! fuences. He was not emotional, bu
# he was not without feeling. He die
q not often weep, though again and agair
~ | saw him in tears. There was not
= . touch of frivolity in his manner, bu
on no human face have | ever seen :
~ more real or contagious laugh thar
on his.
~ Reporter: Did he strike you some
, times, Doctor, as a man who was play
7 ing part?
7 DR.. Hatcher: He did not. Hi
e movements were bright, quick, an
= easy. | talked with him at one tim
' and another about almost every phas
= of his trial and his prison life. | aske'
&C him many questions, and some of ther
- very searching, but | never saw hir
- halt, shuttle, or hesitate, and in all m
II talks with him | never knew him t
10 contradict himself His consistenc
=, was wonderful, and if he was an acto
T. his art was tranScendent.
III FORMING JUDGMENT.
l Reporter: Much has been sal
he about his impurity and hypocrisy.
i DR.. Hatcher: | am not his defende
," and do not claim to be an extraord
re nary reader of character. But sa
him in his saddest and frankest mc
t. ments; saw him many, many times, bl
id in the grace OF his manner, the purit
OF his speech, and the unstudied coul
It. tesies of his bearing he was we'll mig
at faultless. If since the day of his ARE
OF he was guilty Of an unchaste word, a
ne uninanly act, or Turing, indecer
r. look, have not heard of it. In h
ne prison his department not only con
lv manded respect, but to large exteI
10 disaImed prejudice.
h Reporter: Was the effect ofyour a
n, sociation with him to increase or
be minish your suspicion of his guilt1
DR.. Hatcher: am not very impre
ry sible, and men have to be quite ma,
he netic to take possession Of me. / ira
he elled slowly in forming my judgmel
of Cluverius, but | must say that viii
We | never expressed any opinion one Wa
to or the other, | found myself gradual
hit drifting to the conviction that Cluveri
ON was not murderer.
Reporter Your study and manag
re- ment of the case must have given W
a.? much anxiety1
lat DR.. Hatcher: AS to the question
all my personal feelings, that possesses /
ng interest for the public, and on that
will not speak. may say, howeve
that from mahy quarters came assn
ances Of sympathy for me in having
1er 60 in murderer's cell, and in havil
before me the prospect of accompan
ap- ing the doomed man to the gallov
he These were merely physical and sens
to tional aspects Of the case, and OF cour
3ut at the first | recoiled from them. b